


at 5am you call my name

by mind_boggling



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 01:25:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13066242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mind_boggling/pseuds/mind_boggling
Summary: It’s not until David sees the girl he’s been crushing on since the beginning of the semester across the room at a costume party where he’s dressed as a popsicle, of all things, does he realise that his life is one big fucking joke.





	at 5am you call my name

**Author's Note:**

> my rendition of david and sarah's first meeting!

It’s not until David sees the girl he’s been crushing on since the beginning of the semester across the room at a costume party where he’s dressed as a popsicle, of all things, does he realise that his life is one big fucking joke. 

Her eyes are hazel-like crystals; he didn’t even know if there were such a thing. And she was mesmerising within first sight, he wondered how he’d only just noticed her. Why he hadn’t seen her among the halls of their school, how she slid into such a, dare he use the cliche, nerdy environment. The rest of the class were exactly the type, but she was so different. So intelligent.

And there were so many _almosts_. So many times where she’d brush past his seat and his body flinched as though she was going to talk to him. Moments where she’d be mid discussion, completely baffling him with her knowledge of a book he didn’t even like, before he can contribute himself. He was too used to his hopes shooting up when she looks at him or smiles at him out of politeness and then shooting back down when that’s all it was. 

It was never more than that. It was never more than acquaintances. He longed for it to be different, for things to be different and for him to not be a social recluse who couldn’t even work up the nerve to talk to her in their shared class. Something where the information and the words were practically given to him. But parts of him wondered if she even knew his name. 

He knew hers. It was Sarah. It rolled off the tongue so nicely when she spoke aloud. 

Frowning at the stench of alcohol and the deafeningly loud bad music playing overhead, he downs the last of whats in his plastic cup. Having abandoned his friends and let the buzz of alcohol run through his veins, he somehow talks himself into going over to her. As he walks across the room he realises his heart is pounding — but that could just be the alcohol talking.

His mind whirrs and he figures himself going insane, and he’s mumbling, words from George Saintsbury; _in the present instance, however, I am attempting something that I have never, at such length, attempted before._

“Nice costume” He says, almost immediately after, regretting it. “ _If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends_ ” Awful, _awful_ singing followed by terribly awkward finger guns. For clarification, she’s dressed as Ginger Spice from _The Spice Girls_.

Sarah’s laughing as she drinks from her red solo cup. He can see the poorly attached blonde highlights in her hair. She’s smaller than he thought. “He speaks! Or rather, he sings”

“Hm?” He asks in response, his vision blurring a little from the alcohol in his system before he clicks onto what she said. “Embarrassing, I know. I mean, you’re dressed better than I am. If it’s any consolation”

“Are you kidding? Lieberman, right? I’m amazed you even showed up, and in costume? Impressive” She replies, stumbling a little on the spot as the liquid in her cup sloshes over the sides and down her wrists. Instinctively, he grabs her elbow and steadies her.

“Wait, you know who I am?” He asks, and she laughs as he’s genuinely puzzled. It’s not like he was equipped with a plan before he impulsively strode over to her, but he didn’t think things would go as badly as they were. Realising he’s still holding her by the arm, he lets go immediately, wondering if he’d already crossed boundaries he’d never come back from.

“We’ve only been taking a class together for uh, how long now? Since the start of Junior year? Of course I do” Sarah replies, her hair bouncing against her shoulders as she moves rather dramatically. He blamed everything on the alcohol. None of what she was saying could be verified, she was extremely drunk. “I was wondering when you’d finally talk to me, every time I see you, you avoid me like I’m the plague or something”

“You were?” David asks, eyes wide with bewilderment.

Sarah nods. “I gotta admit, I was a little intimidated, like, you’re so...smart! I sit there and I’m listening to what you’re saying and I’m like-” She imitates her mind blowing, making a hilariously accurate noise to go with it. 

There’s a silence between them before he laughs, outright and ugly, more of a cackle. Sarah just laughs along with him. “No, no. No way. You’re tripping. You’re joking me right now, don’t joke with me right now”

“Oh I love this song, come and dance with me” Sarah is distracted before she can answer, and he can suddenly feel how fast his heart is pounding once again. She grabs hold of his hand immediately and he’s dumbfounded when she pulls him further into the room and his feet move along with her. 

And he panics. 

“Hey, I was just about to head home, actually. My assignments aren’t gonna write themselves” His hand slips from hers and he can see her physically deflate. She folds her arms across her chest, and he doesn’t know what to do so he turns and heads for the door to whoever’s house he’s in.

Once he reaches the fresh air, he heads down the pathway without stopping, yanking the dumb hat off of his head and beginning to stalk up the sidewalk. Everything flipped so quickly and his heart pounded loudly against his eardrums, a whirlwind forming in his mind as every little aspect of the _entire conversation_ he just had with _Sarah_ comes flooding back in. Only turned on it’s head to embarrass him. 

“Hey! Lieberman, wait up”

His demons are only so loud. Her voice is louder.

He finds himself stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, turning slowly but surely to see Sarah stood in front of him with a frown on her face. She wasn’t swaying on the spot, and she was forming coherent sentences, so the cool air must have somewhat sobered her up a little. “Listen. I was thinking about leaving soon, too”

She wasn’t. David could tell that was a lie immediately. But the fact that she said it made him feel that little bit less humiliated.

And she says, “Do you want to come back to my place?” 

_She’s drunk_ , he says to himself. _She doesn’t mean it. She’ll change her mind_. And if he says it enough, he’ll believe it. But there’s something that’s intriguing him about the entire thing. He finds his heart slowing, his breaths evening. He’s waited all semester for it, but it’s there. 

And he finds himself saying yes.

-/-

Sarah has sobered up by the time she opens her front door, David following her inside immediately.

They talked almost the entire walk home, about anything and everything, more specifically about their one area in common - their shared class. He was dumbfounded at everything coming out of her mouth, about how she never instigated a conversation with him because she was too shy. _Too shy_. She just laughed when he said the same.

“My parents are sleeping so we have to be extra quiet” She heads straight into the kitchen and removes her heels, David feeling all the more out of place as he towers over her. “You hungry?” She asks.

“Sure” He answers, hands in his pockets as he feels ridiculously awkward in the fucking popsicle outfit. Luckily, he wore something underneath in case he did indeed look as ridiculous as he previously thought. “Listen, can I take this off? Would that be weird? I promise I’m not naked underneath” 

“Oh, no sure go for it” She replies, laughing before tucking her curled hair behind her ear. David pulls the costume off rather quickly and he’s left in khaki pants and a shirt. “I’m awful and there’s hardly anything to eat but I have the munchies so bad right now so I’m gonna make toast” 

“Fine by me” He replies, a smile on his face as she begins preparing at the counter. “God, I wish I hadn’t worn such a dumb costume. That’s the last time I ever get convinced into wearing anything of the sort. You know I didn’t see it until five minutes before we left for the party”

Sarah laughs, more of a snort. “I like it”

“You’re just about the only one” He replies, using the time that her back is turned to him to survey the photographs on the kitchen walls. She seemed like an only child, pictures of her and her parents dominating every blank piece of the wall. Extremely nucleated, but he expected nothing less. 

“No, I think it says a lot about you as a person” Sarah replies, placing more bread into her small toaster on the kitchen counter. 

“What, that I’m used once and then thrown in the trash? You got that right” He replies. 

She dashes a cloth at him and he laughs as he catches it in his arms, the frown on her face only making him laugh harder. Her cheeks are rosy, and she’s embarrassed. “You know that’s not what I meant, Lieberman” 

“Enlighten me. What did you mean?” David asks, a small smirk that even he is surprised to see forming upon his face.

“That when people see you, their faces light up because popsicles are great. And when you’re not around, they’re sad. Because they don’t have a popsicle anymore” She replies, folding her arms across her chest as she leans against the kitchen counter. She stumbles on her words, but makes the entire thing into a joke and laughs.

“You just made that up on the spot” He states, only for her to laugh louder and double over against the counter. He can’t help the smile that finds its way onto his face. “I knew it,” he says, “God, Sarah, I thought I could trust you to tell me the truth”

“I did tell you the truth, I promise” She answers, nodding her head. Her eyes are on him, and she pauses just a little too long before she speaks again. “I never lie” 

And he looks at her for just a little too long, and her eyes drink him in just as quickly. The silence is full of tension, but the kind that’s diffused so easily. He wonders if she’s going to kiss him. If she’ll walk across the tiny kitchen and step on her tiptoes to reach him. But his hopes are leaping too high once again, and he scalds himself.

The toaster interrupts them, Sarah jumping out of her skin and pulling her eyes away from him quickly. And this process goes on for hours on end; he eats more toast that he ever had before in his life. She continues making more and more pieces as their talk turns from this and that, dodging her parents now and then when one of them gets up to pee. 

David is conscious of the time but is hesitant to break things up. His eyes are heavy and he’s tired, and he can tell Sarah is, too. More often than not, she lays on the couch with her eyes closed and he fears her falling asleep and their conversations dying. They can’t, not after waiting for so long.

“I wonder if there’s a world record of number of pieces of toast eaten in one sitting” She says, forcing herself upright next to him on the couch. He yawns, stifling a laugh. “Cause I’m like 90% sure we’d win”

“You’re getting delirious” He says, eyes on her as he leans back against the couch. She stretches her arms outright before shaking her head violently. “Just go to sleep if you’re tired, I’ll let myself out”

“Am not” She replies. “And no. Please. I haven’t had this much fun in such a long while, please don’t go”

“Sarah, it’s like 5am, my parents, and undoubtedly yours, are gonna go insane if I don’t come home, and if you have some random guy in the house with you at this ungodly hour. I’m doing you a favour” David answers. His heart pounds wildly as she places a hand on top of his, tightening a grip around it, gaze flickering between his lips and his eyes. Before he protests any further, Sarah leans across hesitantly and places her lips on his, lingering for all of a few seconds, breath hitching as she pulls away from him.

“Please don’t go” She repeats, eyes fixated on him as he frowns at her tiredly. Her mouth forms a smile, tightly drawn and minuscule, but it’s there. Her hand is still on his, and he laces their fingers together subconsciously, the pounding growing, beating against his ear drums. He wonders if she'll do it again. He wants her to do it again, and as much as he'd initiate it himself, he's glued to his spot on the couch in euphoria. And it’s 5am, and her lips are suddenly on his once again, and any kind of plans to leave are debunked immediately. 

Fingers still intertwined, she leans across the couch to kiss him again, this time using her free hand to run her fingers through his curls. His hand is on her waist, supporting her body as he begins to fall back against the couch. He’d swivelled to face her, and she’s lying on top of him quicker than he imagined. It’s bliss, and he feels her smile against his lips.

And they fall asleep to the sunrise, the wistful singing of the morning birds being a gentle lullaby for them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> contact me elsewhere:
> 
>  **twitter:** frnakcaslte  
>  **tumblr:** bisexualieberman

**Author's Note:**

> find me elsewhere:
> 
>  **twitter:** vanlangs  
>  **tumblr:** bisexualieberman


End file.
